Like a Lullaby
by LegionOfMany
Summary: Following your friend to a rather special mask shop, you meet a young man named Uta. Yet, despite his intimidating looks, he seems like a very gentle person... right? { (Female) ReaderxUta! Genre and rating might change with the second chapter }


_I AM ALIVE-! But only barely so, haha ;)_  
_I know that I have quite a lot of things to finish, but since I'm reading the manga and watching the anime right now, I had a lot of inspiration for this particular story! So yes, I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter~!_

* * *

You couldn't help but frown slightly, trying to make yourself smaller as your friend guided you through different dark alleys, past several brothels and some rather nasty looking groups of men. The area looked anything but friendly to you, and the rumors of ghouls roaming this city didn't exactly put you at ease either.

Ghouls... you luckily never had the pleasure to meet one personally, seeing that they were a rather rare sight in the part of Europe that you came from. Yet you had heard plenty of stories about them; mindless beasts looking like humans, attacking those foolish enough to step away from the crowd and devouring them. In fact, the place which Akane - your friend - lead you looked _perfect_ for a ghoul attack. But perhaps you were just paranoid.

She must have noticed your nervousity, because after the young girl gave you a quick look she smiled reassuringly, her expression somewhat sheepish.

"I know, it doesn't look very safe here - but I assure you, that you the place that I'm taking you is different!"

Since you had entered the school as an exchange student, it had been Akane who took care of you, showing you around and explaining everything to you. If it wouldn't have been for her during these past three months, then you still wouldn't be able to utter a single correct sentence in japanese, not to speak of the fact that you would have gotten helplessly lost - trusting her would be the least you could do.

Allowing yourself to relax slightly, you returned her smile softly, nodding in a sign that you decided to believe her. While she still hadn't told you just _where_ exactly you were going, you doubted that it could be anything bad. If someone was to look up 'nice' in google, then you were positive that a picture of this girl would show up.

It did not take too long though until she came to a halt in front of a building which, in your eyes, didn't look too different from the other ones around; grey walls were covered in graffiti with a bike parked in front of it. A sign was placed next to the door, and although you couldn't read quite all of the kanji, you recognized the ones for 'mask' and 'shop'. A mask shop...?

"Here we aaaare~! Come in, come in!"

Akane seemed strangely excited, although you didn't take this as a bad sign. Grabbing your sleeve she pulled you with her, gently but nevertheless determined. Leading you down a straircase she dragged you into a room right to the left.

Your eyes widened in amazement and surprise; not only was the room surprisingly clean, compared to the rest of the building, but there also were masks _everywhere_! Unfinished ones were scattered all over the place, resting on the faces on mannequins as they dried, others framed the walls or were displayed in cabinets of glass. It wasn't too big, but nevertheless rather impressive. Looking around, Akane tilted her head to the side before turning around to you again.

"Wait here for a moment, yes? I'll get the shopkeeper!"

Hesistantly you nodded, watching after the brunette as she left the room again, leaving you behind alone. After a few moments of awkwardly standing around, you decided that you would take a closer look at some of the masks - after all, as long as you didn't touch them, it should be okay, no?

Curiously you approached a rather colourful mask in the back of the room, resembling the face of a feline. Its lips were pulled into a wide smile, revealing sharp looking teeth, and for a moment you wondered if the artist perhaps got their inspiration from 'Alice in Wonderland'. Either way, you liked the mask. Despite it's rather intimidating first impression, it had something calming to it.

You didn't know how much time passed while you walked from one mask to the next, admiring the loving detail and realistic features, yet when you were in the middle of viewing a bunch of oni masks, wondering about their weight, someone right behind you talked, only few inches away from your ear.

** "Hello."**

With a surprised yelp you jumped away, turning around in the same motion which almost caused you to trip. Behind you - or, well, in front of you now - stood a young man. While his raven hair was kept long on one side, it was shorn on the other and tied up in a small ponytail with the exception of long bangs, which framed one side of his face. Several piercings and tattoos were visible on his body, yet what was most eyecatching about him certainly were his eyes; crimson irises surrounded by a dark black sclera.

For a moment you were so taken aback that you couldn't utter a single word and instead only stood there and stared at him with wide eyes and a racing heart, until you noticed Akane standing behind him, barely suppressing her laughter.

"Sorry, he likes doing that. This is Uta-san, he's the one making all these masks!"

Slowly allowing your racing heart to calm again, you offered the strange looking guy a small smile, holding out your hand in one of your western habits, before remembering that this wasn't the usual way of greeting each other in Japan. Yet, before you could retreat your hand and bow instead, Uta had already grabbed it, shaking it gently. Your smile widened slightly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Uta-san...! I am '-'."

Instead of replying in any way, the male leaned in closer to you which caused your smile to falter and slightly lean back in reflex as he sniffled the air. Was something off about your smell? The ravenhaired turned to your friend, head slightly tilted to the side.

** "Is she...?"**

Akane nodded, although you didn't quite understood what exactly they were talking about. Seeing how he still held your hand you carefully tried to pull away, but if he noticed your attempts then he simply ignored them. After a few moments in which Uta and the brunette seemed to be having a silent conversation, the man turned back towards you and finally let go of your hand. You pulled away with another nervous smile, before giving your friend a quick and questioning glance. The girl only smiled.

** "Would you like me to show you some more masks, '-'-san?"**

The question startled you somehow, yet since you didn't want to seem rude and actually were interested in them, you nodded softly.

"That would be nice, yes."

As he walked across the room towards one of the unfinished masks, you couldn't help but think about his way of speech; while you didn't know too much about all the different kinds of speech in japanese, you had noticed that, despite his looks, he spoke very softly and correctly, if not even somewhat old-fashioned. Something which you certainly hadn't expected from a person with his looks.

"You two look at the masks! I will be right back!"

Before you could say anything, Akane waved with a sweet smile before turning and exiting the room, leaving you alone with her strange friend. For a few seconds neither of you spoke, both just looking after the girl, before Uta sighed softly. Awkwardly you returned your eyes to him, your gaze questioning.

** "Akane-chan told me she would bring someone along today. But I didn't expect someone like... you."**

His words weren't meant as an insult, yet they were confusing. Had he, perhaps, expected one of Akane's other friends...?

"Uhm..."

Uta looked up and blinked as though he had just been pulled out of his thoughts, before softly tilting his head to one side. You noticed how, no matter his emotion, his expression barely changed.

** "Ah, sorry. That was rude of me. Come!"**

For the time he showed you some of his works in progress, and slowly you relaxed, soon feeling completely at ease. He was strange, yes, but you could see that he was of a gentle nature. And he certainly had a lot of artistic talent.

When you reached the feline mask again, you decided to ask where he got the idea from. When you mentioned the Cheshire Cat, he looked at you in mild curiousity.

** "Cheshire Cat? I didn't think of this when making this one, but I suppose there are similarities. Do you like it?"**

Eyeing the colourful mask you smiled with genuine admiration, nodding.

"It is beautiful, yes."

Without a single word his pale fingers gently took the mask down from the wall, before he placed it over your face, hiding your surprised expression. It was surprisingly light and comfortable to wear, breathing being nowhere as difficult as with most masks you had worn so far.

** "It looks very cute on you."**

You could feel your cheeks heaten up slightly at the compliment, and you were glad that the mask hid your blush. Sheepishly your looked down at your shoes you stuttered some thanks, before carefully taking the piece of art off and placing it back on the wall where it belonged. It was then, that your eyes spotted the clock which hung a bit higher, and a quiet gasp escaped your lips; more than an hour had passed already. Which was _a lot _more time than you had passed, and Akane _still_ wasn't back. Immediately you found yourself worrying.

"It's so late already, and Akane is still out! Do you think something could have happened? There were some really unfriendly looking men on our way here, and also - "

You stopped midsentence as the sudden fear that your friend might have been attacked by ghouls entered your mind. Uta seemed to understand.

** "Ghouls?"**

Looking down again you nodded softly, worrying your lips as you thought about what to do. Akane didn't carry a mobile phone with her, so calling wouldn't be a possibility. The ravenhaired male tilted his head to the side.

** "Do they scare you?"**

You wanted to answer with an immediate yes, but somehow you found yourself hesitating. It was true, right now you were frightened, but then again, you had only heard stories and never met one in person...

"I... yes, at least from what I heard. We don't have ghouls where I come from, so I never met one myself..."

In response, Uta only hummed softly and thoughtfully as he watched you out of his eerie eyes. For a moment you wondered if the lenses wouldn't get uncomfortable with time, but at the moment you were too busy thinking about Akane as though you could worry about that.

** "What do you know about them, then?"**

Unlike you, the male was completely calm and relaxed, head tilted to the side in curiousity as he waited for your answer. Didn't he worry for your friend's well being at all...? Perhaps he knew where she went. Hesistantly you replied.

"They eat human flesh... it is the only thing they can eat, so they do. Some of them blend in with humans almost perfectly, but someone told me that they could be recognized by their eyes. Apparently they turn a red and bl-."

Again you stopped midsentence, frozen as a horrifying realisation hit you so intensely that you could almost physically feel it. _Ghouls have black sclera and ruby irises_, your classmate's voice echoed in your mind. Black sclera and ruby irises.

For a split second, feeling like minutes, you and Uta only stared at each other, neither moving or saying anything, before you turned around and made a mad dash towards the exit. Perhaps you were overreacting, perhaps you were making a fool out of yourself right now, but the action had been instinctive, your feet moving on their own. You had barely gotten past the doorframe, when suddenly and roughly something pushed you against the wall, knocking the breath out of your lungs. For a second your vision was blurry and you blinked in a daze while whatever it was continued to pin you against the wall.

** "Don't run away. It would be bad if the doves were to find out about this place here."**

Uta's voice was still soft, no threat in his words as he spoke. Slowly your vision cleared again, and in terror you saw, that the _thing_ that held you in place was a long tendril which seemed to sprout from the male's back. The little blood that was left in your face drained from it, leaving you as white as a sheet as you stared at the ravenhaired like a doe in headlights. He really _was_ a ghoul. A monster.

In your head you could already see yourself being torn apart and devoured by the male, and no one would ever find out what happened. Was Akane eaten too? Or were they partners in crime? Had your friend been a ghoul all along?

You wanted to fight, call for help, do _anything_, but instead you only found yourself being completely frozen in fear, your heart racing with such strenght that he could probably feel it through the fabric of your uniform. You had often read about paralyzing fear, yet this was the first time you experienced it yourself, and in all honestly, you could do without.

Uta looked as though he wanted to say something, his gaze inscrutable as he observed you with an expressionless face, but instead he stepped closer, raising one hand and reaching for your face.

And this was the point, where your body and mind gave up and darkness took over your vision.

* * *

_*laughs as I make yet another cliffhanger*_

_I hope you liked what I wrote so far! I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I want to portray Uta, so I am sorry if I got anything wrong in your eyes ;w;° _

_Either way, from here on I'll let you people decide what happens~! I have two different endings in mind for this story, so now it depends what you'd rather have; a somewhat fluffy and happy ending, or one of my usual dark ending where you get eaten? ;)_


End file.
